America Player
by pizzafan123
Summary: Danielle East, or Dani2010 was a introverted gamer. Known in Florida in the United States for playing games and loning it along with playing online. Through the online gaming, meeting someone who changed everything by introducing her to Japanese game, Swort Art Online. What she doesn't know was how much SAO would change her life as she knew it. Or how real it would become.
1. Link Start

Into the Game (SAO)

Chapter 1

I jogged home, excited to play my new game I got. I was orginally a Japanese game, but I was friends with someone in Japan and they told me about the game and I wanted to play. He got it for me and I paid him back through online.

"Yo, Dani!"

I turned to see my friend, Eric Martin, my best friend. He was very easy going, could almost be friends with anyone. People were surprised we were such good friends since we were different, but we'd known each other since we were kids. "What? I want to get home."

He smirked at me. "To play your nerd game."

I huffed, scratching the back of my neck. "Oh, shut up, already. Not everyone likes to play sports."

He had a soccer ball under his arm and he grinned at me. "Well yeah, you shouldn't try to be so anti-social all the time."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, it must be why I'm good at gaming." I said this sarcastictly.

He grinned again and waved me away, running off to where I knew the soccer field was. Our school sport wasn't football, but soccer. It was the popular thing there. I got home and saw my mom cooking dinner in the kitchen. I braced my hand on the wall. "Hey, mom, I'm going to play my knew game!"

She was suprised when I bought it. SAO was a RPG game that let you go into the game into a virtual world. She didn't think I would spend so much money on a game, the thing was at least a good 400 dollars. It was my own money I got from my part time job so she left me alone about it. She never got my love of video games, it was the first one where you could go inside, I had to play it.

Espcially since I heard the Beta testers were done with it, though I heard they didn't get too far. Mom asked. "How was school?"

I tapped my foot impatiently. "Uh, good. I'll eat dinner when I'm done okay."

She stopped cutting up the fat off the meat she would make later. She smiled at me and laughed, seeing how impatient I was. "Okay, sweetheart, go ahead."

I grumbled at the nickname, but ran upstairs and into my room, slamming the door shut and locked it, carefully pull out the NerveGear from my top drawer, it looked like a huge helmet and a visor covered the eyes. I had to hide it because my little brother might find it and break it. I think I would've actually killed him.

I went back to eat dinner and waited until it was close to 1:00 am before getting ready.

I laid out on my made bed as I didn't want to hurt myself from sitting for so long and put the NerveGear on. I did what they told me to do, it said to touch my body so that it could read it or something. Then I created my Avatar. A guy of 17 with short black hair and green eyes, a blue shirt and black pants with boots.

I laid my head down and felt my heart beat quicker in excitment, before calling out.

"Link Start!"

/ / / / / / /

I stumbled for a second and then saw that I was in a place called the Town of Beginnings. It must be where I start. I passed people walking around and talking. I felt a little awkward, seeing some many people and me being alone. But this was a game and I might of been awkward in the real world, but gaming is where I can be confident.

I squared my shoulders and grinned, getting ready to play. I opened my menu and saw a had a couple of things there already. A simple sword. I clicked on it and the sword was in my hands. I was in awe at it, it was so real. Nothing like Call or Duty and any other RPG I've played.

Putting my sword back, I shoved my hands in my pockets and walked forward, passing a bunch of people talking to their friends. I gotten to a field that was void of anything and grinned to myself, bringing my sword back from my menu. I looked over and saw animal, I think it was a warthog or a pig. I gripped the hilt tighter with my right hand and frowned in thought, the sword feels a bit awkward in my hand.

When I didn't know what to do in a video game on my PS6, I usually looked at my menu. I quietly pulled it up and looked at the place where my weapon and something that said skills were. I looked and saw something that said. _Sword skill._

I pressed it and felt something like power go through my arms and glow into my sword. I grinned again and ran forward, intending to attack the pig. I attacked his side and he howled, forcing me to jump back. He stopped on the ground, huffing and snorting through his nose. I think I needed to attack him one more time. I darted forward and quickly jumped on his right tusk, turning my body, plunging my sword downward, slicing down. With a loud squeal that made my ears ring, he burst into glass like shards, but I knew that they had to be pixels or something.

I rolled and hit the ground. Shaking my head, I looked up as I heard a wierd sound. I saw that I gained some XP for killing the pig. My eyes widened in excitment, cheering and gave a fist pump of victory. "Yeah!"

"You're a new timer too?"

I yelped at the voice and spun on my heel. Two guys were standing there. One had dark clothing and black hair with long bangs and a sword strapped to his back. He had a small smile on his face. His eyes were as equally dark, maybe slightly lighter. The other guy had longish red hair and had a bit of a beard. Their avatars looked about my age.

I rubbed the back of my neck, smiling. Okay, all I need to do is introduce myself, it's not like I'll see them in the real world. So, if I say something stupid I don't have to see them. "Hey, I'm Dani, Dani2008."

The redhead grinned. "Hey man, I'm Klein."

The black haired guy nodded his head. "I'm Kirito."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm new. Loving this game though."

Klein laughed. "I know right, I just got here too. This guy knows what he's doing, being a Beta tester and all."

My eyes widened in shock. "W-what?! Your one of the 10,000 beta's?"

Kirito smiled slightly, but looked like he wanted to frown. "Yeah, I was."

I decided not to say anything, I was good at reading body language.

Klein rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I'm off, ordered a pizza before I got in here for 5:30."

My eyes widened. "Man, is it that late already?"

Klein nodded. "Yeah, time sure flies in here."

I decided in a little bit I would leave too. I didn't want to make my mom wait too long, plus I could always play tomorrow. Klein grinned at me and held out his hand. "Nice meeting you, Dani."

I smiled back, grabbing his hand and shaking it firmly. "Yeah, you too. See you around?"

He let go of my hand with a nod and turned to Kirito. "Hey, I was going to meet up with some people after this, so if you want you can friend them and hang with us, both of you can."

My eyes widened in shock as I looked at him, this is why I liked virtual games more than IRL. Kirito looked surprised too. Klein waved a hand. "It's cool if you don't want to, no pressure. I could always intoduce them another time or something."

Kirito replied. "Yeah, sorry. Thanks anyway."

I nodded my head, swinging my arms. "Yeah, maybe later."

Klein raised his arms. "No way! I should be doing all the thanking. Hey, one of these days I promise I'll pay you back for all your help, virtually that is."

"Yeah, right."

"Thanks for everything man, seriosuly."

I was feeling awkward again, like I was a third wheel, but I didn't want to say anything or bring attention to myself by walking off. Klein shook his hand too and I smiled at them.

Klein went to log out and I was about to turn and head back to town. But he said. "Huh?"

I blinked and turned back, I saw Kirito do the same. Klein asked. "Where'd the log out button go?"

I frowned. "It's missing?"

"Yeah, come look."

I was already walking over, Kirito next to me. "It should be there."

Oh, yeah, he was a Beta Tester, he would know. Klein shook his head. "Nope, it's not there."

I frowned some more and opened my menu, looking for where I knew the log out button would be. But in the Main Menu where the three spots for Options, Help and Log Out, were supposed to be, only the first two were there. Kirito said. "It should be in the Main Menu."

I shook my head. "It's not on mine either, is it a glitch or something?"

Klein shrugged. "It could be, it is the first day out of Beta. There's bound be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now."

Kirito told him. "You will too."

He showed him that is was 5:25. I had to laugh as he flipped out.

He shouted. "IT'S NOT FUNNY! MY TERRYOKI MAYO PIZZA!"

I scrunched my nose up, what the heck was up with his taste buds. Kirito doesn't seem disgusted about it, maybe it's a Japanese culture thing. Kirito said. "Why don't you contact the GameMaster."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Good idea."

Klein said. "I already did that, but he's not picking up. Is there another way to log out of this thing?"

I shrugged and turned to look at Kirito. His voice dropped down in seriousness. "No, whenever a player wanted to log out of SAO, he can do it by going through the Menu."

"That can't be right, there has to be some other way out."

I said. "Maybe we just have to wait until they fix it."

Klein whined. "I can't wait that long!"

I shrugged again. "I don't know, then."

Klein was jumping around. "Return! Log out! Escape!"

If I wasn't getting a little worried, I might of laughed. I looked up nervously, it was getting dark. Kirito said. "I told you so, there's no emergency in the Log Out either."

Klein gaped. "No way, your kidding!"

I felt myself pale. "I don't think he is."

Klein grabbed his head. "I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head."

I shook my own head. "That won't work." I did research on the NerveGear before I put it on my head.

Kirito nodded. "He's right, don't bother, once your hooked in, you can't move your body in the real world anymore. Your Gear intercepts all the commands you give from inside the game. Using an interface built inside the rig."

I frowned at that, I sort of knew it. It was one of the iffy things I thought about while deciding I was going to use NerveGear, my want for the virtual game turned over the worried part. Klein looked at me and I nodded. "Yeah, I read all about it before I put it on."

Klein snapped. "So what? Now we have to wait until someone gets around to fixing it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, like I said before."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah or until someone from the real world comes along and takes the Gear off us."

I smiled in relief, my mom would do that. Klein sighed. "I live alone, you?"

I said, frowning in worry. "I have a mom and little brother at home."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah, I have a mom and little sister, but they'll notice by dinnertime that I-"

He rushed at him and put his hands on his shoulders. "You have a sister, how old, what's she like?"

Kirito's face went awkward and I smirked. Kirito said. "She's into sports and hates games. And she totally not your type, man!"

Klein wouldn't back off so Kirito kicked him in the balls. I grimaced and asked. "What the hell man?"

Kirito shook his head. "It don't hurt, but we need to get serious. Don't you both think this is weird?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but we can't do anything about it right now."

Klein said. "Yeah, totally. But it's just a bug."

"This isn't just a bug. If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game."

"Yeah, I guess your right."

Kirito asked. "I wonder if the developers know what's happening. They can just shut down the server and long everyone out. But why haven't they made an annoucement?"

I shrugged. "Maybe their working on it."

Suddenly a big gong sound was heard, like one of those church bells. All three of us looking in that direction we thought it was coming from. Suddenly I yelped when I realized the ground left me and it felt like I was entering the game all over again.

I looked around and saw that a bunch of people were appearing with Kirito and Klein on my either side. Almost everyone else looked as shocked as I felt. We were back in the Town of Beginnings again. I muttered to myself. "Did the game do this?"

I think all the players in the game were here, it was getting really crowded. Kirito gasped. "Someone forced a teleport."

I asked. "Is that possible?"

There was a crease between his eyebrows. "I don't..."

People were talking and freaking out around us. Kirito asked. "Now what?"

I looked up and saw red hexagons with WARNING and System Announcement spread across the sky. The sky was now just red and something like blood poured down from a certain section. I flinched back in shock and disgust. "Shit, the sky is bleeding!"

Klein gaped too. "What the hell is that thing?"

I looked toward Kirito but he looked as lost as I did. Then this wasn't in th Beta either. The thing was bubbling, until it stopped and someone in a red robe with gold lining showed up. He was floating in the sky. It lifted it's arms and said. "Attention players, I welcome you to my world."

Kirito asked. "What does he mean by that?"

I shrugged, still looking up. "His plan?"

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba and as of this moment I am in control of this world."

My eyes widened in shock. "H-his game!"

Kirito and Klein looked shocked too. Kayaba continued. "I'm sure many of you noticed an item missing from your Main Menu's, the Log Out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."

I looked at him in disbelief, what the hell? Klein asked. "He's kidding, right?"

I shook my head. "I-I don't think he is."

Kayaba said. "You can't log yourselves out of SAO. And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull. Destroying your brain and ending your life."

I felt myself stiffen in shock, what? Does he mean the whole time he was planning to trap us in a game before anything even started? I clenched my fists in fear and anger. That we can actually die? What if my mom or little brother decide to take it off, blowing up my brain?

A couple tried to leave, but a force field stopped them. Klein looked over at us. "Huh, are you listening to this crap? He's gotta be nuts, right?"

My eyes were wide as I looked up at Kayaba. "He's not lying." I did read up on the Gear, doing something like that isn't impossible.

Klein stared at me. "What? What do you mean?"

Kirito said, staring ahead. "He's right. The transmitter signal in the head gear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it can fry your brain."

Klein was shocked by the news. "Couldn't someone cut the power-"

I shook my head, clenching my fists tighter as they shook. "That won't work, the NerveGear's got a internal battery."

Klein snapped, panicked. "This is crazy, totally crazy!"

Kayaba said. "Despite my warning, families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear. An unfortante decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

My eyes widened with a gasp. "T-that many!?"

Kirito said. "213?!"

"No way! I don't believe it!"

I can't get over it. That much lost life in so little time. Most of them had to be kids too. Kayaba continued. "As you can see, most media outlets have around the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, the likely hood of NerveGear being removed is miminal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important you remember the following. There is no way to revive someone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, you avatar will be deleted from the system forever. And the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

That part of not having my mom take it off was a little bit of relief, but either way if you die in a game, i'll die for real. I didn't sign up for this when I bought the game from my friend. I'm good at games, but that doesn't mean I don't die in them. I'm a teenage American, I don't want to die. I clenched my fist even harder.

Kayaba said. "There is only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now your gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100 and you will clear the game."

I shook my head as people complained. "What, clear a MMO without dying? Impossible." Some people don't even beat a MMO even with dying a bunch of times.

Klein gasped. "We can't beat all 100 floors."

Kayaba said. "Last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."

Though my hand trembled a little, I opened my Menu and went to my Items and slid to the right, seeing something that said, "mirror".

With a confused frown, I pressed it. It was a small handheld mirror. I flinched at the blue light that hit me. I heard Kirito shout my name. I yelped out, but stiffened as my voice grew higher. I blinked as the light left. I looked at Kirito shocked. He was a younger guy, about my IRL age with black hair and almost black eyes, a long piece of hair between his eyes.

Klein looked at the same, except a little younger. I put my mirror toward me and saw brown hair reaching above my shoulders, blue eyes and a bit of pale skin. My clothes were the same, but there was one thing.

Klein gaped. "YOUR A GIRL!?"

I blushed. "Y-yeah. I always play a dude with MMO's. People think girls can't play."

Kirito asked me. "Why do you look American?"

Klein said. "Oh yeah, this game was excusively in Japan."

I smiled a bit. "I have a friend from Japan and he got it for me."

Klein looked a me with a smile and before he could anything, I raised a hand. "Please not now."

His look fell, but he didn't say anything. Kirito was still shocked looking at Klein and myself. I asked. "How can it even know how we look in IRL?"

Kirito looked confused and then his eyes widened. "The scan. It has a high density scan signal device inside the NerveGear rige. It can see what my face looks like. But how does it know my height and body type?"

Klein said. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do that calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over like this, remember?"

My eyes widened. "Right! I found it a strange request a first."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah, I forgot it got our physical data."

Klein put a hand on his head. "But this...what's the point?! Why would anyone do this to us?"

I frowned. That was something I didn't know. What I wondered was if my friend from Japan was in the game or not. I hope he wasn't, I wouldn't him to have to go through this.

Kirito said, pointing above us. "I think he's about to tell us."

I looked at the floating man above us with something close to hate. What would he do this. 213 people are dead. I don't want to know how many will be dead at the end of this, if anyone even survives this game.

Kayaba said. "Right now, your probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, Developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear do this? Ultimitly, my goal was a simple one, the reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design."

Kirito hissed. "Kayaba."

I grit my teeth. "All this bastard wants to do is play god. Not caring what lives he messes with in the process."

Kayaba said. "As you can see, I have achived my goal. This marks the end of the Tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

I clenched my fists as he started to disappear. That stupid god complex bastard. I quietly looked around and saw people frozen in the shock and horror. I knew something would break them out of it and I needed to leave now. I looked at Kirito and Klein, feeling guilty that I would leave them. But I was alone here, I didn't know if my friend was here. Klein and Kirito looked like they could handle themselves.

I quietly moved through the throng of people, making sure not to bump into anyone. I didn't want to be in the middle of a riot. I escaped to an allyway between two houses when I heard the screams. I winced, but kept walking. I heard. "Hey Dani!"

It was Klein's voice. I turned, walking over to them. "Hey."

Klein frowned. "Why'd you run off like that."

I shoved my hands in my pockets. "The crowd was getting bad, a riot was gonna happen. Hell, it's happening now."

Kirito nodded his head. "You have a point. Listen up, I'm heading out right now for the next village. I want you both to come. If what he said is true and I think it is, the only way were going to survive is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In a MMO RPG, the money you can earn, the XP, once the game starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around. The fields around the towns of beginnings are going to be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm Level 1, I can get there easy."

Klein had a awkward smile on his face. "Thanks, but remember when I said about those friends of mine, that I was telling you about? We stood in line for a whole night to buy this, they're back at the Plaza somewhere. I can't leave them."

Kirito looked conflicted and I frowned to myself, I could tell he was a bit like me, not liking to be in big groups. Klein snorted. "Sorry, can't ask a guy to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I? So don't worry about me, get your ass to the next village. The last game I played, I ran a guild, with the stuff you just told me. I'll get by no sweat."

I said, feeling a bit nervous as I had to interact with new people like I usually did. "Kirito, if your okay with it, I'll come with you for a while."

His eyes widened and I shrugged. "It'll be helpful till we get to the next village."

Kirito told Klein he'd message him if he had trouble. As Kirito walked off, I went to follow him.

Klein said. "Kirito, you look better like this. Better than your avatar."

I chuckled to myself. Klein grinned at me. "Nice meeting ya, Dani."

I turned my head with a smile. "Yeah, you too Klein. Take care of yourself."

I followed Kirito.

 **Well, that's my first SAO fanfic. I don't get why this fandom gets a lot of hate, I'm really loving SAO. Hope you like it.**


	2. First Boss

**America Player (SAO)**

 **Chapter 2**

 **The First Boss**

 _ **Imtomzizle**_ **: Thank you for that, It was what I was going for. Glad your enjoying it.**

 _ **Shifting Aura**_ **:** **Glad you think that, hope you like it.**

Traveling with Kirito wasn't bad, not really. I figured traveling with a stranger would be awkward and quiet. But as it turns out, Kirito could be as quiet as I could be. Sure, we didn't walk about and just be dead silent, I think that would have been creepy.

Sure, we talked, but mostly, he showed me the ropes around this game. Sure, given time I would've been able to figure it out myself, but with my life on line, I was taking this shortcut.

I gotten points, level ups and was getting better and better. Me and Kirito could even call each other friends. We got along pretty well.

I ran forward, gripping my sword hilt tighter and using my sword skill to skewer a wolf, rolling forward and slicing behind me, pivoting on my right foot to stab the last wolf in the head, only for it to dodge and forcing me to tumble to the right, stabbing it in the side as it gave out a last howl.

I panted a bit on reflex, grinning to myself as I was getting better. It has been a month since Akihiko Kayaba's annoucement. Kirito was helping me train. I walked over and opened my menu, collecting the XP.

"You're getting better."

I turned to look at Kirito, who was smiling. I attached my sword across my back so the hilt was at my left shoulder. I rubbed the back of my neck, smiling back. "Yeah, well, we've been going at it for a month now. You have any plans yet?"

He nodded his head as we walked out of the forest. "Yeah, I heard a group is meeting to get together to defeat the final boss. I think we should go, we won't be able to defeat him on our own."

I nodded back. "Sounds like a good plan."

We were back in the village we were staying for a good three weeks, since it was a safe zone. Basically what Kirito would do in the beginning was fight beside me, showing me what he did in the beta test. He saved my neck a couple of times and I even helped him some too. Anyone could make a mistake after all.

Well, after I got the hand of it, he would watch me fight and then tell me what I did wrong. While he was talking about the game, he was very talkative. I didn't mind becuase usually what he had to say would help in the long run. As I fought, sometimes he needed to jump in.

A month later and my skills were going up. We even completed a couple of quests. At this point to make it easier, we both were in a party. I had a feeling soon we were going to split. He seemed like the high defintion of a solo player. Sure, I liked going solo, but I could work with some people if I had to.

I looked at Kirito, who was lost in thought. I called slightly. "Hey Kirito?"

He jumped a little and raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeah?"

"When is the meeting?"

His eyebrows furrowed and then he said. "Tomorrow, in the morning."

I nodded, stretching my arms over my head with a groan. "Great, let's grab something to eat and then sleep, if you want."

Kirito smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, come on."

I followed him as we got the bread we usually did and he took out the jar of cream we had gotten from a quest a week ago. He used his finger to spread it across the bread and I did the same. I smiled to myself as I bit into it. The bread was hard, but the cream made the bread soften and taste sweeter.

After eating, we waved each other goodbye and went in our seperate rooms we already paid in col. They were right next to each other. We weren't going to share a room. I knew we were friends, but that would just be too awkward. Sure, if we couldn't spare the col, we would just share it and deal, but we hunted a good deal of monsters, so we were good.

I went in my room and yawned. My room had a twin sized bed, a small dresser/table beside it and a table in the middle of the room. The showers, bathroom and kitchen was downstairs. Changing into looser clothing I had in my storage on my Menu, I went to sleep.

/ / / / / /

It was early morning when Kirito woke me up. After eating, we went to the area that Kirito said they were meeting at. I think the thing that troubled me most was that in the month we've been here, 2,000 people died. I mean, I get people do stupid things, but don't they get that this game is real. That once your HP reaches zero, that it means you die.

It freaked me out that 2,000 people are dead. Most of them must of been teens. Though I did find it weird that older people played this game.

"...Dani! Dani!"

I was pulled to the right suddenly and I gasped, looking to see Kirito looking at me with a confused look. "Hey, you there?"

I felt myself blush in embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry. Just thinking. What's up?"

Kirito's eyebrows furrowed. "We're almost there and you almost ran into that pole."

I felt myself redden in more embarrassment. "Oh, uh..."

Kirito laughed in amusement and I huffed, shoving his shoulder. "Oh, shut up. Didn't you say we were-dammit, stop laughing!"

He stopped after a moment, still grinning a little. I shook my head and saw a group of teens walking somewhere. I followed them. I Kirito come after me. "Hey, I'm sorry, alright."

I shrugged, chuckling myself. "It's fine. I guess I'm a little lost in thought."

He nodded. "Yeah, just be careful. You don't want to do that at the wrong time."

I nodded too. "Yeah I get it, thanks though."

We followed the others into this area with a platform in the middle with a guy with blue hair standing there. People were scattered on the stone steps around and above the blue haired guy. They looked like stone bleachers from a gym back in America.

I sat with Kirito toward the middle, but farther from anyone else. The guy with the blue hair clapped his hands. "Okay, everyone, let's get this meeting started. So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diabel in this game and job I hold in Knight."

I rolled my eyes at the snickering. "Dude, there's no job system in this game."

It might of been funny before, but since this became a death game, not so much.

Everyone started talking and Diabel said. "You guys want to hear this or not?"

They got quiet and Diabel looked at us seriously. "Right, anyway, here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today."

The crowd was shocked and I leaned forward interested. He actually has somethng. When people pull meeting like this with rumors, you can never tell if they're telling the truth or not.

Diabel said loudly. "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to Floor 2. The next step is, we have to tell everyone in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here. Do you agree or not?"

People were clapping and whistling. I smiled to myself, when you got people like that taking leadership positions, it doesn't seem so hopeless to get out of here. I won't give up, but when you think about the possibility of getting out, it's a huge downer. Kirito was smiling too.

"Okay glad to hear your all with me on this. Now, let's figure out how we're going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six."

I stiffened and looked at Kirito. He had the same panicked eyes that I knew I did. I was okay with working with Kirito, I knew him for a month. These other people look like that they know each other.

Diabel said. "Normal parties won't stand a chance against a real boss."

I twitched at that and then looked around. I suddenly grinned and smacked Kirito's shoulder with the back of my hand. "Hey, look!"

Someone was sitting by themselves, with a cloaked hood over their head. I got up and walked over to them while for some reason Kirito scooted over quickly. Kirito sat next to the person while I sat on the step above them. Kirito asked. "You got left out too, huh?"

I guess we were left out, no one came over to us or anything like that.

"Not even, I wasn't left out. It's just everyone seems like their already friends, like you two."

So she was a girl. Her voice was too high for a man. The mirrors Kayaba left us exposed us to that. I then remembered she said something.

I pointed a thumb at Kirito. "I just met him a month ago, you want to be in our party?"

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah, what do you say?"

The person turned their head and Kirito said. "You heard what the person said, we can't take the boss on our own. Plus, it would only be for this fight."

I curiously wondered if that would be the same for me and Kirito.

The person in front of us gave us a curt nod.

Since I was already in a party with Kirito, he opened his menu for her to be invited, I didn't need to. Though when she excepted the invite, a warning screen came out of my menu, showing another person was in my party. I accepted it and looked up to see their HP bar's name. Asuna. Is that a boy or girl name?

Diabel said. "Now, that everyone's teamed up-"

"Hold on a sec!"

I looked up at the angry voice and saw a guy jump down from the top and hop down the steps, landing below, next to Diabel. I muttered. "What's up with him?"

He had reddish-brown hair and some armor on his chest, with a sword across his back. His back was facing us at the moment. He said. "My name's Kibou, got that? Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest. We all know about the 2,000 people who died so far, yeah? Well, some of you need to apologize to them right now."

I glared at him. What is he going on about? Diabel said. "Kibou, I think I know who's your referring to. You mean the one's who are ex-beta testers, right?"

I glared more, really? I glanced at Kirito, he was staring at the two down there.

Kibou shouted. "Of course I mean them! The day this stupid ass game started, just up and vanished, right? They left all us beginners. They snagged all the good hunting spots. And they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only one's getting stronger here! This whole time they ignored us like we're nothing. Hell, I'll bet there's some of them here! Come on out, beta testers! We should make them apologize to us and make them give out their money and items they got. They can't expect the party to trust them, when they don't trust us. Why should we?"

I glared at the guy talking like he knew nothing. Kirito did help me and offered to help Klein. I bet there are other beta testers who did the same thing. Plus, Kirito was my friend. I could whatever Kibou was saying, was bothering him by the look on his face. He didn't know what he was talking about. I could also be the guilty party here since I was getting help from Kirito.

Another thing, I might have been quiet, but I didn't like others downing my friends and Kirito was that. I was about to stand up, but Kirito yanked on my shoulder, pushing me back down in my seat. I sent a look at him and whispered. "What?"

Kirito whispered back. "Don't draw attention to yourself. Sit down."

I whispered angrily. "He's a bastard, I don't want to listen to him. Your not-"

He pressed tighter on my shoulder to make sure I wouldn't stand up, then let go, sending me another look to keep quiet. I glared at the loud mouthed idiot in front of us, but gave Kirito a nod. It wouldn't be good if Kibou make them angry and I showed that Kirito was indeed a beta tester.

"Can I say something?"

I snapped my head up to look at the tall and bald, black guy who called. He stood up and walked toward the front. He said to Kibou, but everyone could hear him. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibou, right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should pay for the rookie's death because they didn't help them and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. Did I leave anything out?"

Kibou snapped. "No, you didn't."

Agil was reaching for something at his side and I saw a small brown book. I blinked, that was the book I found in my storage. It gave all sorts of helpful information.

Agil said. "This is in the items storage for free. It's a guidebook. You got it, didn't you?"

Kibou replied. "Sure, I got one. So, what about it?"

Agil replied back. "You know who was handing these out, the ex-beta testers."

I blinked back in shock, that was something I didn't know. The others around me were in shock. It made sense, only someone who played the game before would have information like that.

Agil held up the book. "Alright now, listen up. Everyone had excess to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here because I want to learn from those players deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're going to beat the boss."

Agil turned toward Kibou and thankfully he sat down. I understand he said all that, he hated and feared being stuck in this game and he wanted someone or something to blame. But we can't all be against one another if we want to get out, more so the people who have the most knowledge.

Diabel took the attention back to himself. "Okay, can we get back to the meeting now? For info on the boss, it's all in here, the latest issue of the Guidebook you just heard about."

Diabel opened it and said. "According to the book, it says the boss's name is Illfang the Colbolt Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions, the Ruin Colbolt Sentinals. Illfang carries an axe and buckler, he had four health bars and when the last one turns red he switches to a curved sword type weapon called a Talwar. It shows his patterns of attack too. That's it for the briefing. Money will be divided equally for everyone. The party that defeats the boss, gets the XP. And whoever gets the item, gets to keep it, any objections?"

I leaned back on my hands. Wow, that new update really helps. We can move up and get to Floor 2. I grinned at the thought. Everyone around me was talking.

"Good, we leave tomorrow at 10 am in the morning."

Everyone else started spreading out. I turned my head. "Hey, Asuna-where'd Asuna go?"

Kirito told me. "Asuna went that way."

I looked over to where he was pointing only to see Asuna's cloaked back disappear. "You want to look for her later."

Kirito stood up. "Sure, fine by me. C'mon." He held out a hand and I grabbed it, pulling myself up.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / /

It was late at night and me and Kirito were looking for Asuna. It was Kirito's idea and I didn't really care. I said. "Hey, why don't we seperate? We'll find her faster."

He nodded his head. "Good idea, I'll go this way."

I went in the opposite direction he did. I actually ran into Agil. I had to look up to see him. He looked down at me. "Hello, I saw you at the meeting. I'm Agil."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm Dani, nice to meet you in person."

I held out a hand with a half smile and he shook mine, his hand was way bigger. He let go and I opened my mouth to say something, but a message popped up. "Uh, sorry, I..."

Agil smiled. "Don't worry about it, I'll see you tomorrow."

He walked off and I opened it, by clicking on it. It was a message from Kirito.

 **Dani, I just talked to Asuna, but she going to her own room. You don't have to look for her anymore. I'm going to mine, see you tomorrow.**

 **Kirito**

I closed it and decided to would go to sleep, I didn't want to be tired for tomorrow. I went to my room in the Inn and got some sleep.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Me and Kirito met up with Asuna after we woke up. It was weird not having to clean up like I would in the real world. I bought us each a breakfast sandwich. Asuna muttered. "Thank you."

Kirito said the same thing and looking curiously at the place we usually buy bread. I shook my head. "No."

Kirito blinked and tried to look innocent. "What?"

I raised an eyebrow. "We're not eating any more bread, I think I'll be sick of plain bread for life."

Asuna and Kirito both laughed at that. Though Kirito's was slightly teasing and Asuna sounded like our conversation amused her. We saw some of the other players from the meeting so we decided to follow them to the meeting point. It was early still, only about 9:30 am as my menu told me.

We we going through the forest and Kirito was talking about the plan for the three of us to kill the boss. Well, helping everyone else.

Kirito then said. "Let's go through this again. We're the back up. So our targets are going to be the bosses minons, the Ruin Kolbold Sentinals."

I felt myself look at him in annoyance, how many times does he have to go over a plan? Asuna nodded. "I know."

Kirito went on. "I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons up and out of the way. When I do, switch and jump in. Dani, your our back up, either switch with us or just help out."

I nodded my head. "Sounds good."

Asuna asked, confused. "What's a switch?"

My head snapped to her's in surprise. "What? You don't know what it is?"

She shook her head, a frown on her lips. I shared a look with Kirito. He looked surprised himself. He asked/demanded. "Is this the first time you even been in a party?"

As she agreed with what he said, he slumping over. I chuckled. "You really got bad luck on plaining this for the first time"

Now, by looking at the way she acts, I don't think she's a gamer. Think about it, the first or so one you play turns out to be a death game. That has to be the worst luck. I patted Kirito on the soldier. "Come on, let's hurry up before we loose everyone."

I noticed we fell back from everyone else. We both caught up Asuna and the others.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / /

We were in the tower, in front of the door where the boss would be. I stood next to Kirito and Asuna as Diabel stood in front of everyone else. His sword was in front of him. Almost everyone from the meeting was here.

Diabel said loudly. "Listen up, everyone. I only got one thing to say to you. Let's win. Come on!"

He opened the doors and they creaked slowly. I walked forward a bit and saw Diabel walk forward. It was empty and I was confused. Until I saw a huge red mass. I walked down the long hallway, people in front of me and behind me. I flinched as the room changed color, splashes of random colors on the walls.

A huge red mass from before that had to be Illfang jumped down, huge with an axe and purple loincloth around his middle. A bright blue light shone and his minions showed up. There were three of them and they were in front of Illfang. I reached behind me, grabbed the hilt with my right hand, a slight scraping coming from the scabbard and steal.

I clenched my fist tightly around the hilt, feeling a nervous pit in my stomach. I had to do this, we had to beat this death game. With a new determined mind set, I was ready.

Diabel game out orders for the differnet squads. Diabel looked over at us. "Squads E, D and F keep those minions off of us!"

I gave a sharp nod and Kirito shouted. "You got it!"

My eyes widened in shock when Asuna dispatched a minion easily. "...She's good."

Kirito looked just as suprised as I was. I ran behind Asuna, attacking the minion that went to attack her from behind. Kirito didn't notice until I was running. I activated my sword skill, cutting the thing in half.

I looked and shouted. "Kirito, watch out!"

He was paying attention though and killed it easily. I smiled to myself, this is amazing. It's thrilling...I don't know how to explain it. I heard a roar and spun on my heel, Illfang was on his last health bar. Now, it's going to switch to a talwar.

I stayed tense as it threw up it's weapons. Diabel came running. "Stand back, I got it!"

I blinked in shock. "What is he doing?"

Kirito shook his head. "I don't know, I thought the plan was for everyone in the group to surround it."

Suddenly Kirito shouted. "It's no good, get out of there."

I snapped my head around, cutting through the minion Kirito was fighting since he was distracted by Diabel. "What is it? Kirito, answer me, dammit!"

I watched horrified as Diabel was cut down by Illfang. I stumbled back a step in shock. Illfang roared. Kirito ran after the fallen leader, but I stayed where I was. I was circling all around Illfang, but I couldn't find an opening that wouldn't get me killed. I heard a shattering sound that made me jump away from Illfang and for a moment shut my eyes tightly, doing my best to drive away the stinging I knew to be tears.

I never saw a human-a player die in this game. Only animals, mimi bosses and NPC's. I whiped a hand across my eyes to clear my vision. I couldn't start crying, we needed to defeat this guy.

I clenched my fist tighter on the hilt, my knuckles white.

Kirito stood up and I slid to his left and Asuna came to his right.

Asuna said. "I'll go too."

I nodded. "You can count me in."

"Okay. We'll hit him just like we did the minions!"

We ran forward. I activated my sword skill, striking his blade and then skidding to the right, dodging a fatal blow. Kirito did the same thing. Kirito moved, calling to Asuna. "Switch!"

I circled as she attacked, looking for an opening. Illfang went to slash her. I and Kirito shouted. "Asuna!"

I sighed in relief as only her cloak was hit to show a girl with long ornage like hair and eyes. I ran to the right, opposite her. I called, a sudden plan hitting me. "You attack from the back!"

I turned to the front, using the skill and attacking at his side, the same time Asuna hit his back. He was still alive. KIrito shouted. "He's coming back!"

The three of us ran forward. My eyes widened in horror as Kirito was hit. Asuna caught him and I ran behind Asuna talking the fall. I coughed and they both got off. I quickly looked at Kirito's health bar and saw it still in the green, but it shrunk down a good amount.

I raised my sword at Illfang above us, but I was still on my back. I let out a harsh laugh as Agil saved us and pushed it back.

Agil grinned at us. "We can hold this bastard back until you health's back up."

I nodded. "My health's fine."

I jumped up, hearing Asuna call. "Wait."

I turned toward the fight. "Sorry, gotta go." I ran after the others, joining in on the fight. I attacked downward, but he blocked, forcing me to back up or be slashed.

I covered my head as he jumped, pushing the other players back.I saw Kirito knock it down.

Kiroto ran forward. "Asuna, Dani. Help me beat this sucker, one last attack!"

I shouted, running forward. "Got it!"

Asuna yelled something simular. Asuna blocked while I hit a solid attack on his side. I ducked down when I heard Kirito scream loudly from behind me. He slashed it around the middle, making it roar in defeat and die.

I grinned as I saw the Congradulations above us. For a moment I raised my hands and cheered with everyone. We did it, we beat the first boss and I helped. I saw Kirito on one knee on the ground, panting. I was breathing heavy too, but he looked worse.

I looked around for Asuna and saw her walking forward with Agil. I walked with them to him. I saw he got the bonus. Asuna said. "Nice job."

Agil nodded. "That was some fine swordsmanship, we owe the win to you."

I grinned some more. "Yeah, real badass."

Kirito smiled slightly and then he frowned a bit, shaking his head. "No, I-"

The other players were cheering his on. I smiled to myself, now we have Floor 2.

"Stop cheering!"

I frowned at Kibou's voice, whatever he wants to say it can't be good. I still kept my sword in my hand.

Kibou said, voice thick on emotion. "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die?!"

My eyes snapped to his. What?!

Kirito repeated. "Let him die?"

Kibou shouted. "That's what I said! Admit it, you knew the technice the boss was gonna use. You could've told us! Then Diabel would've stood a chance. He wouldn't of had to die."

I shook my head, pointing my sword slightly. "That's the most idiotic thing I've heard. People die in this game, dammit! 2,000 if you haven't forgotten! Diabel rushed in, it's no one's fault!"

My shyness around people disappeared when I was defending a friend.

One guy shouted. "What do you know? You're with him, I know how he knew. He's a Beta Tester! He knew the bosses attack patterns! He knew, but he kept it from us! And I bet he's not the only beta tester here! You, you defended him! You're one!"

I shook my head, feeling angry. "No, I'm not! I just defending him because your ideas are bullshit and anyone with a brain shouldn't listen to you."

He was glaring at me in a way that showed he was about ready to brawl with me. I adjusted my sword better as the crowd muttered back and forth.

I felt a small hand on my shoulder and saw Asuna there, looking at me worriedly. "Be calm."

I shook my head a bit, glaring some more, but back up. Agil was doing the same with other players.

Suddenly my shoulders tensed as I heard a creepy, mocking laugh that sounded like Kirito. His laughed went on for a moment and said, his voice rougher. "So, you guys think I used to be a beta tester. It's not cool to put me in the same class as those noobs."

I frowned, what's he trying to pull?

Kibou shouted. "What'd you say?!"

"You heard me, one of the thousand people who scored a slot in SAO beta were rookies. They were so green they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys were better then they were. But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the boss cause I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills with higher floors. I know a bunch of other things too, more than you can imagine, more than any info broker."

I was frozen in shock at the dark amused smirk on his face. There had to be something. I've known Kirito for a month and once I make friends, well, it hard for me not to be friends with them. I don't believe Kirito would, I mean...

I shook my head sharply. I mumbled. "What the hell?"

Kibou said. "If that's true, your worse than a beta tester, your a goddamn cheater, that's what you are!"

People started yelling and I slid my sword behind me, my hands free.

"He's not a beta tester, he's a beater!"

I just can't believe this, he's my friend. People just don't have attitude changes in a minute. I doesn't happen.

Kirito said arrogantly. "A beater, that's good. I like it. Okay, you can call me a beater. Just don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore." He used his menu to put on a ankle length black coat.

I raised an eyebrow, still confused. What was the point of that?

Kirito walked off, going up the stairs, about to leave. I shook myself out of the shock and followed Asuna, who followed Kirito. I then realized something. Kibou starting shit, the confusion, Kirito acting like some type of bad guy. I almost slapped a hand to my forehead, why didn't I see it before? What Kirito just pulled was a stereotypical bad guy move from a movie or game.

So, he's doing this as an excuse because he wants to go solo or he's being a matyr? Whatever it is, he's still my friend, but I also don't want to throw his plan out the window. He must of did it for a reason.

Asuna called. "Wait."

Kirito stopped. Asuna said. "When we were fighting the boss, you called me by my name."

"I wasn't trying to be rude. Did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"How'd you ever know it?"

I almost stumbled, staring at Asuna with disbelief.

Kirito explained it to her and she saw his name.

She sounded it out, saying his name. Asuna laughed. "I'm so dumb, it was there the whole time, I never knew."

"You can become powerful here on our own. But if the day comes when someone you trust asks you to join a guild, don't turn it down. Because they're limits to what a solo player can do."

"But your solo."

He dissolved our party. I spoke up, my voice quiet. "Kirito, I don't know the exact reason did that scene, but...your still my friend. I trust you."

His shoulders tensed. "Thank you, you too should find a guild, your getting stronger, use what I taught you."

With those parting words, Kirito walked off. People were moving away and leaving. Asuna asked me. "So, what are you going to do, now?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I don't know, go solo for a while, maybe meet a guild. Try my best to help beat this damn game."

Asuna eyes locked on mine. "So, your leaving and going solo, like Kirito?"

I smirked a bit, letting out a laugh, shaking my head. "I guess, though I won't have beater on my shoulders. Here."

I opened my menu and Dissolved our party. I rolled my shoulders and Asuna asked me before I could leave. "Is there a way for me to see you or something like that if I wanted to?"

I shrugged. "I could you to my friends list if you want."

She gave me a nod and I sighed to myself, request for her to be my friend, which she excepted.

As I left I noticed something from my friends list.

Kirito didn't remove himself from mine.

/ / / / / / /

The next day I got ready to go Floor 2, I was going to beat this game, I wouldn't let it beat me or kill me without a fight.

 **That took a bit longer than I expected. It was because think about all the stuff I had to do IRL along with slight writers block.**

 **Thank you for the favorites and follows.**


	3. Dani's Journey

America Player (SAO)

Chapter 3

Dani's Journey

It was the beginning of the the year 2023, around Feburary. I was still going solo. Sure, there would be no way for me to defeat a boss all on my own. I bet Kirito even needed help with skill he had. Though when someone asked me to stay with them or join they're party, I admit it, I ran. I declined it as politiely I could. But in the end, I winded up going on my own.

Sure, it was lonely after a while, but I didn't want to get attached. Sure, if this was only virtual reality, I wouldn't care, but getting close to people that could die, I wouldn't risk it. I couldn't.

So, I loned it. I actually ran into Klein a lot. Him and his friends. I remember the first time we decided to seperate on the 4th floor.

 _Klein grinned at me. "Dani, come on. You gonna lone it again?"_

 _I shoved my hands in my pockets. "Yeah, I am. C'mon, you got your friends, so I'll just...go."_

 _Klein eyebrows furrowed into something like concern. "Hey, you can't just keep on going solo."_

 _I shrugged. "Everyone goes solo."_

 _"Everyone doesn't live!"_

 _I felt my lips turn into a wry smile. "I guess that's true. See you around Klein."_

Now, he doesn't bother me about, just easily lets me team up with him and his friends. It was strange having someone worry about me. Sure, Kirito was a little bit, but we helped each other out so it was neutral. I didn't know Asuna that well and in IRL, I was mostly 15 years old, could take care of myself raised by my mom, helping out with my little brother when I could.

I didn't usually have people worrying about the things I do, then again the things I used to do weren't life threatening. Not to say I don't appreatate the sediment.

Anyway, right now I was with another party on 7th Floor. They in were going to attack the boss in two days. It was a bigger break that usual, but half of the party was tired from the 6th Floor. I didn't run into Kirito or Asuna in my time either. Maybe it was easier that way.

I still had my sword, but it felt strange, like I could have a different weapon. I didn't want to bother with it for now, it was still a fine sword. Though it was kind of something most people got when they joined the game.

I currently was laying on my bed in the inn that they had there. They all really looked the same, I guess when the Floors get higher, things change. A knock came on my door and I stood up, opening my menu with a flick of my fingers and sellecting my sword. I clenched the hilt tightly in my right hand, the sword tip toward the door. "Hello?"

"Dani, it's Kevin."

My eyes widened in surprise and I shifted my sword back in the holder back at my side. I opened the door. "Kevin, I thought we were attacking the boss in a couple of days?"

"We are, they wanted to go over some more plans."

I smacked my head against the door frame, seeing the "Immortal Object" thing pop up. I ignored it. "Again, really?" I moved aside amd let him come in.

I had a bed against the wall, a small kitchen off to the left and in the middle a small round table in the middle of the room. Two chairs surround it with a arm chair on the other side of the room. It was decent for the amount of Col I got it for. Kevin sat down in one of the chairs (more like flopped) at the table and I sat across from him.

I put my elbows on the table, clasping my hands to rest my chin on them. Kevin or Kevin6428, had green hair and green eyes and usually wore bright colors most of the time. For example, he was a yellow shirt, bright blue jacket and green pants with some type of combat boots that were brown. His hair was all spiked up and stopped at his neck.

Like his clothes, he couldn't seem to be serious for long, only when the time showed he had to be. I was around him and his own small party a week ago. I knew most of them pretty well. I knew that when we finished with this boss, I would need to go solo again. I've been in this game for about 4 months. Going solo hasn't done nothing bad for me.

At times, I did worry for Kirito, Agil, Klein and Asuna, along with the people I worked with in that time, but I had to seperate myself from them. That fear of loss held me back. Atleast I could admit that to myself.

I asked. "When do we meet with everyone else?"

He smirked. "As soon as possible."

I sighed, standing up and walking out the door, Kevin following me. We walked toward the building they decided to use as a meeting area for our party. There was about 15 people, people from small groups coming together to make a bigger one for the big fights.

I met Kevin and four of his friends after fighting with him on a enemy that they needed help on. There was Emi, a girl who had violet colored hair and blue eyes, the skirt the game gives you, a red shirt and a black half jacket.

Mark, a guy with black hair and yellow eyes, a green shirt, a silver armor chest plate that ended at his waist and black pants.

Akio, had green hair and grey eyes and wore the standard gamer outfit that the game started as when we first got here.

I got along with them well enough.

Me and Kevin arrived at the meeting place and all 13 people were sitting around a large round table. I shook my head. "What is with Aincrad and round tables?"

Kevin laughed at me and Emi waved me over. I patted Kevin on the shoulder and walked over to her, sitting between Emi and BladeMaster428. I gave him a nod and he returned it. I sat back and raised an eyebrow at the leader, Kyle32, who stood up. He was an older man, around his 30's with a small black beard on cheeks and throat.

It was weird seeing older people in the game when I started. When I was in the party for the first boss, their were mostly younger people, Diabel was the older one I guess. Kyle32 said. "As you know, in two days time, we will fight King Sodar and his warriors. From what we can tell, we our parties in their small groups, we can attack a different angles..."

He went on and on, the plan and what he needed to do. A couple of hours later, the meeting ended and I stretched my arms, leaving the door before I could be called over.

Two days later we all met up outside the Boss Room, King Sodar. Me, Kevin, Emi, Akio and Mark stood next to each other as other smaller parties stayed closer together. Kyle32 stood infront of the black and gold double doors. "Alright, Floor 7. One step closer to beating this game. Let's all fight and make it out alive!"

Everyone cheered and I felt my lips pull down into a grimace. I seen way too much death a civillan should never have to see. Since the first floor, I see 7 people die from 2nd to 6th Floor. In weights on you. When Mark nudged me, I gave him a tense smile and ran forward as Kyle32 pushed open the doors with a heavy grunt.

I sent the other people from my party a final look and sped up, the others at my heels. There had to be about a dozen, maybe a little more than that warriors around the room. Their faces was strangely looking to be canine.

What had to be the boss was in the middle of them. I flinched back in surprise and everyone stopped, we were a good distance away. King Sandor was huge, about 8 or 9 feet tall. His shoulders were huge and hairy with grey fur, muscular arms and chest which also had fur covering it. Baggy pants covered his legs, but his face was shaped into a snout, his huge teeth snarling.

It made my shoulders shrink in fear for a moment, he reminded me of a wolf like minotaur from the Greek myths. I felt a sharp smack on my shoulder. I snapped my head up to see Mark give me a look of concern. I shook my head and grimaced, I can't freeze now, I don't want this game to kill me, I won't let it.

I darted forward, watching as the other parties attacked him from the sides. I remembered what our orders were from Kyle32 at the meeting two days ago.

 _"Kevin, you and your group will attack from the back while Fire39 and Blizzard26_ _parties will attack on the sides. The other parties will attack in the front and the other warriors."_

I followed and Kevin and the other toward his flank. My sword was aimed and shared a look with Emi. She grinned at me. She had a long dagger in her hands. I was debatable about it, but she was well with it.

I activated my sword skill along with Emi, darting forward, we slashed the back of his knees. Akio called. "Get back!"

I was already ahead of him and I grabbed Emi arm, pulling her with me with the others, as the groups rotated back to their positions. I let go of Emi. I noticed the 6 health bars were down to two. So, our and the others attacks helped a lot.

He roared loudly, his jaw open as it echoed.

"AKIO!" My shoulders stiffened at the scream of horror coming from Mark. I snapped my head around, seeing Akio on the ground, being attacked by to warriors. I ran forward, activated my sword skill and cutting through one of them straight down the middle. It shattered in front of me and I was almost in a panic. I pivoted on my right foot and was about to kill the other one, but Kevin jumped through, killing the other one.

We shared a look and knelt by Akio. My eyes flickered to the fights, muscles tense. Emi and Mark were holding their own. We needed to get Akio to safety. But they were struggling a little. I came up with a decision. "Go help the others, I'll get Akio out of here."

He sent me a worried look. "But Dani-"

"Go, before we're attacked!"

He ran off and I grabbed him by the shoulders. "Hey, c'mon..."

His hands weakly grabbed my wrists and I looked at his health bar. It was red, not just red, but in the death zone. He was going to...No! He said. "Dani, dammit, stop. I-I..."

I grabbed his and scooted back, paling at the two warriors that were coming our way. I didn't have any healing potion on me, I used the last of it on myself on the last boss room. I ran back some more. Everyone was too busy to help. Akio snapped. "Fuck it, Dani! You're going to get yourself killed. Let me go!"

With the last of his strength, pulled away from me. I was on my feet, so the drop shrunk his health to zero. I gasped in shock, falling to my knees. I was losing it, I placed my hands on his shoulders, only too feel him burst into shards. I clenched my fists, in tears.

This is why...this is why I don't get close to people. Dammit. I gave a rage filled glare at the two warriors coming close to me, only two feet away. I roughly wiped the tears and the warriors snarled at me. I gave a snarl of my own, crouching a bit and putting my sword in front of me, activated the skill once more. I attacked the first one point blank, elbowing the other one only for teeth to clamp on the limb.

I cried out in pain, using my sword hand to cut off the snout, pivoting on my foot to stab the warrior in the stomach. I looked back where Akio was. I shook my head, running toward the fight. My eyes flickered toward my HP bar, seeing it was at 70%.

King Sodar had about 25% of health. As the others attacked him, his health went to 20%. I still in a hazed and grieved state of mind, attacked him in the chest. I heard my name screamed, but I moved away, not caring and attacked again and again, activated my skill in the middle of it.

I felt his health go down to zero, but before he burst into shards, he swipped me in the chest, making me fall back a few feet on my back, knocking the air out of my lungs. I was breathing heavy, still stunned about everything that happened in the last ten minutes. I'm lucky the pain is down in this or I might of passed out.

"Dani2010!"

I heard my name yelled out and not just the name everyone calls me, but my full avatar name. It was silent other than that, the other warriors must have be defeated. I looked up at my HP bar, I grimaced a bit in worry. It was at 45%, I needed to get health potions. My sword was beside me. I felt myself get listen by my jacket front.

I blinked in surprise to see Kyle32 angry face close to mind. I was shook. "Are you insane?!"

I frowned, shaking my head slightly. I came back to myself, twisting my arms. I saw Kevin, Mark and Emi coning over, worried expression on their faces. I hated this, I didn't want to start something. "I would have been-"

"You think that's what I'm worried about? I'm talking about your selfishness about trying to take the XP and bonus for yourself."

I gaped at him, shock turning back to anger. I used my arms to shove his away. Thankfully, I was able to knock his hands away from my jacket (which he held tightly). "You think that's why I did it?!"

Kevin said. "Both of you, calm down."

We ignored him and I heard the others from the parties murmuring. Kyle32 snapped. "Why would you do it then?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I don't know, I was mad, alright! A-akio was killed!"

I heard Emi hitch of breath and I clenched my teeth. Kyle32 if possible looked even more furious. "That's no excuse, Kimiko, Angel and others died. You didn't see them being selfish."

I let on a deep breath of anger, shoving him. "You complete moron. I can't believe your an actual leader!"

Kyle32 took an step foward and his fists were clenched. I tensed myseld, my HP was low. Kevin and Mark moved themselves in front of us. Kevin put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me back a bit. "Calm down, come on. We beat the boss."

I heard Mark say. "Back off, man."

I shook my head. With the four months I was here, I changed in personality a bit. Sure, I'm a bit shy around others, but when I'm angry, since I started this game, I start talking and stating what I feel.

A ding stopped me from saying anything. I moved away from Kevin to see a small square showing my rewards. I grimace, running a hand down half my face. That was one of the first thing to show up.

"Well, take it!"

I ignored one of the players that said that. Now, I know how Kirito felt in that boss fight. I wouldn't pull what he did. Laughing like a cliche villian and walking off like that. I looked at it and saw XP, 2 health potions, some Col and a free outfit of some kind. I had an idea. I felt my lips twitch into a smile.

I opened it and gave certain things in the list to people in my party. Kevin, I gave one of the health potion and I gave some of the Col and XP to Emi and Mark. They looked shocked as it popped up on their faces. I raised an eyebrow, accepting the rest of it with a sigh, standing up. I still had some XP, Col, the health potion and the outfit thing. I grabbed my sword, putting it secure on my back.

I looked to see them accept what I gave them. Kyle32 told me. "Dani, I know you not a Beta tester, but what you did was out of line."

I scowled at him. Kirito was a beta tester and he was my friend. I wasn't going to hate people because they were beta tester. It was like hating someone for race or ethnic backround, it was stupid. "I'm leaving and going solo. It's better off that way, either way, we beat the boss."

I turned my back on them and walked off, hands shoved deep in my pockets. Kevin said. "You don't have to do that."

I looked in the direction of where Akio was and feeling the throat close up in emotion. I nodded my head, feeling guilt tear at my chest. I gave him a grim smile. "Of course I do. See you around, Kevin, Emi and Mark. Wish the best for ya."

With that I left out the other door, ending up on Floor 8. I opened my menu, going to my items and grabbed the health potion, drinking and putting it back. I sighed in relief when my health bar went up. I walked off a bit and pushed away the thoughts of Akio and the alive ones I was leaving alone.

It looked like I was going solo again.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / /

It's been months since Floor 8, I was now on Floor 25. I would rest for a little bit and then move on, joining parties distantly to move on. My menu showing it was August 26, 2023. Absentmindly, I noticed my birthday passed, but I didn't want to celebrate it if that made sense. I wanted to celebrate it with my family when I got home. It was hopeful thinging anyway.

Being alone all the time bothered me sometimes, but I felt it was needed. I could see myself changing a little bit, the more I went through things and help fight bosses. The outfit I got from King Sodor was something I picked out. A blue shirt, light type of chainmail and dark blue jacket with the tail stopping in the middle of my thighs with black pants.

It was comfortable and I liked it, so I didn't really bother with anyone else. People didn't know who I was, even after what happened on Floor 7.

I was happy for that, I still heard things of Kirito and how he was a "Beater". That still pissed me off, but I didn't say anything about it much. Just because I haven't seen Kirito in almost a year, didn't mean he wasn't my friend. Same with Asuna and Agil. I did see Klein through the Floors, though if he thought I was distant, he didn't say anything, though at some points his grin was a bit tight.

Though something changed when I went to Floor 25 meeting room for fighting the boss there. I walked in and sat down. Listening to the leader that took charge there. The next day we would go with the plan he told.

We all seperated and I was walking toward my inn room. I heard a call. "Dani!? I-Is that you?"

I turned and saw who called me, a famillar voice I haven't heard since IRL. It was Renji Shinomoto, the friend that helped me get SAO in the first place and he was stuck in the game.

 **This was a bit hard, I really didn't have much to reference on. You could tell I made up the rest on my own. I just didn't want her to fully jump into 2 years without showing what she did and done.**

 **hachinonana: Yay, frienship, that's what I was going for. Hope you enjoy this.**

 **As for everyone else, thank you for all the favorites and follows.**


	4. Dani's Journey II

American Player

Chapter 4

Dani's Journey II

 **August 26, 2023**

 **Floor 25**

I could not help, but stare at him in shock. Renji Shinomoto. He looked a little bit older than the last time I saw him on webcam, butt he still had the same slightly slanted dark brown eyes and black hair with brown mixed in, being an inch or two taller than me.

His eyes were wide with shock as he looked at me. It was almost a year and we're been in this game for a good 9 months. Renji shook hsi head. "Dani? You're really here."

I nodded. "Yeah, looks like you are too."

He inclined his head toward an empty wooden bench with a smal back attached to the seat by thin steel metal. I nodded back and followed him. We sat down and I asked. "So, what's been going on?"

He sighed, looking troubled before explaining what happened since November 8, 2022. "Well, I tried looking for you in the beginning, but Akihiko Kayaba's annoucement left everyone scattered. I forgot, sorry, but I met up with other friends I knew and we made a guild together, Wolf's Den. They're all fine by the way, except for Mitchel, something happened 6 months ago, some trap that came out of nowhere."

He was quiet for a moment and his voice was laced with grief. I bowed my head in respect, I knew how it felt to loose a teammate. It was a pain that didn't go away, no matter how long went by.

Another moment later, he started speaking again. "Well, we've been joining parties since the beginning. Better chance at beating the bosses and all that. There is eight of us now. Well, that's it. You have a guild?"

I processed all that he said and shook my head. "I've been going solo since the second month of the game, joining parties at boss rooms and big quests. I met up with a guy named Kirito and helped me out for a month."

"The Beater?"

I frowned at him. "Yeah, my _friend."_

I stressed the friend part, showing I wouldn't want people insulting my friends, even if it was another one of my friends. He raised his hands with a grin, chuckling. "Sorry, forgot how protective you are of you friends. Go on."

"We went to beat the first boss and did, with the regreable loss of our leader. I split ways with Kirito, going on my own. I later on joined others for a while and broke off when we were done. Then I ended up all the way here, to Floor 25."

I didn't want to tell him about Akio, something in me wanting to keep that between me and our party. I knew it had to do with guilt, but also not wanting my friend to know about my failure. He frowned. "So...you've been all alone, then."

I sighed to myself and then nodded. "Yeah, I am."

I already had this conversation with Klein and others that wanted me to join them. Because of what happened to Akio, I couldn't see myself joining another group of people for good.

Renji's frown deepened and asked. "How about you join Wolf's Den? Me and you are friends and the others won't mind. How 'bout it?"

I shook my head before he finished. "I'm fine with a couple of floors, but in the end I'm a solo player."

He opened his mouth, a crease appearing between his eyebrows before he closed his mouth and just nodded. I felt horrible about worrying people I cared about, people I looked at as friends. But I did what I had to do. "If that's what you want."

"Thanks."

We got up and walked in the meeting room.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

At about Floor 33, on October 23rd, 2023, I seperated from Renji and his friends from the Wolf's Den. Renji tried to convince me to come with them, but because of the large number of people he had in his guild and my want to stay solo, I left.

It was amazing that I was at Floor 33 already and it been a couple of weeks before a whole year goes by in this game. It made me very homesick. I missed my mom, who worked hard to watch after me and my little brother. My little brother, who I was close to and worried about what he was doing now and my Dad too, wondering how he was taking everything.

I tried not to think much about them or my friends because in the end I was here and they were there. I didn't want to think about the 67 other Floors to finish and that was even if I didn't get killed. It was pretty depressing once I thought about it.

But pre-SAO, I was actually a optimistic person.

Things just changed now. I decided I would hang around Floor 33 before I moved on. I needed some type of rest before I teamed up with others to clear the boss. I'll admit it got lonely after a while, but one gets used to it.

I got myself an Inn and layed back. I thought about Christmas only being a couple of months away. The second Christmas here. I ran a hand over my face with a sigh, decided to just go ahead and seeing who was going to be fighting the boss. I passed a stand of some kind with food. It was a boxed thing called a bento, an NPC was selling it. I opened it and ate as I walked.

I didn't know how to use chopsticks, so I mostly ate with my hands, whiping my hands on napkins from the stand. I saw people walking in a wooden building. It looked like it was just slapped together. The roof was slanted at the right, though the door was straight. With a sigh, I tossed the garbage in a can close by. I walked in the door.

/ / / / / / /

Made parties and defeated bosses. That is what I did non-stop. When I wasn't doing that, I was training to gain better skills and XP. I didn't really stop to think and I think that was what I was really trying to do.

By December 22, 2024, I was on Floor 40. Only had 60 more to go, we'll if I could live through them. I shook my head at the dark thoughts that went through my mind. I walked toward the plain building fully made out of wood, painted a full on bright blue with a green door and a brass colored doorknob. I cringed in front of the door. What the hell? Maybe I gotten misinformation from the Square. I frowned and gave a sharp knock to the bright colored door. I back up quickly as the door opened aruptly. "Hello there?"

I blinked at the boy with light blond, almost white hair and crystal blue eyes. A green t-shirt and grey jeans. He was smiling, a warm look in his blue eyes. It was strange to see someone look that happy. These days it was hard to find someone that happy go lucky.

I asked with a frown. "Am I in the right place?"

He tilted his head slightly. "Where do you want to be, then?"

"Floor 40 Boss room fight?"

He grinned at me and opened his mouth to say something, but a loud rough/brash voice that was also male yelled out from behind. "Oi! Shawn, who's there?"

The boy who was in front of me turned his head back into the colorful house and said. "Hey! Robby, they're a girl here."

I shifted unfortable, he didn't answer my question. A guy showed up with red hair and green eyes. A scowl was pulling at his lips and his eyes were narrowed into a glare. "What do you want?"

I repeated my question, deciding to ignore the guy's attitude. "Is this the boss meeting place."

He narrowed his eyes even more, looking me up and down. I straightened, giving him a look of my own. Even though I didn't want to fight with others, I wasn't about to let anyone underestimate me. I could tell he saw that too. He then nodded. "Yeah, it is. C'mon, Shawn, you idiot, move."

Seeing Shawn not react to the insult made me frown myself a bit, but shook it off. They looked like they knew each other for a while. I walked in, seeing about 15 other people talking and standing in different groups. Shawn and Robby walked over to another guy with light brown hair and light brown eyes, wearing a blue hoodie and blue jeans.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, wondering who'd I would party with. This was the worst part, finding someone to party with for the time being. Until Shawn waved at me with a smile. "Hey, come over...uh?"

I walked over, smiling slightly. This guy made me smile, I don't think anyone wouldn't. The other one waved. "Hey, I'm Dave."

Shawn asked me. "Why don't you join our party?"

Robby snapped, turning away. "I can think of many reasons."

I raised an eyebrow. Dave smiled. "I don't care, if she wants."

Shawn threw an arm across Robby shoulders. "C'mon, it'll be fine."

Robby softened, scoffing. "Ah, whatever. Do what you want."

So after accepting their party requests (which by now I was experly good at), we were a party. We were waiting for someone to start the meeting. What I didn't understand was Robby, he acted rough around the edges, but later on he showed his softer spots, mostly around Shawn and Dave. It was like he wanted his outer layer to be tougher than what he was feeling.

I then decided I would just leave it alone, being in this game for over a year and seeing a various coping methods people did in all the parties I joined, I tented to let it go. After all, I had coping methods of my own to keep myself sane. Espically after all the shatter like glass sounds that brought people to their deaths.

Then a women came up. She looked around to be in her 30's. She had long black hair, some armor and wide brown eyes, with a short metal looking skirt. She called herself YukiPlayer458. She talked of her plan defeating the boss. All of us played attention to her.

She gave us all positions to what we were going to do, just like Floor 8. Our party and another party had the job of front lines. If I wasn't as skilled as I was, I would be worried.

Later on, we got ready to go to the boss room, which Yuki and others from her guild were said to find it. As we waited at the front doors, we were about to go in. As we gotten further in the game, the speeches became less. It was easier as the speeches were most likely the same. As we rushed in, me, Dave, Robby and Shawn went toward the front.

There were 20 humanoid creatures that looked the same with blue skin and bare chests. They surrounded what looked like a 8 foot tall giant with a pot belly and pants, his skin was tinted green. My sword was in my right hand and I helped lead the attack, slashing to the right, attacking a creature without looking.

I could see the boss's health bar going down. My eyes widened when i saw him open his mouth, almost like he was getting ready for something. I saw something red and shouted. "Get down! Get down now!" I grabbed Shawn by the shoulders and pulled us away and down on our stomachs as heat and flames overhead. We were not told of that. I let go of the tight grip I had the shoulders of his shirt. I looked around and saw with a grimace a couple of people shatter.

Shawn was in a bit of shock, holding tightly to his mace. I saw with relief Dave and Robby were a few feet in front of us. We saw the boss's mouth close and I scrambled to my feet. Shawn was next to me. "Hey, thanks."

I didn't look at him. "No problem." The good thing about the fire was that it killed half of the creatures. The boss was at about half percent in HP. We went to Dave and Robby. Robby snapped. "Are you both alright?"

I blinked, a bit surprised that the question was at me, but pushed it away. "Yeah, we both are fine."

We ran back and attacked the creatures. With the fire attack, the leader's plan sort of went out the window. Though people seemed to organize themselves in their own way. As we cut throught the creatures, we then attacked the boss.

In the end, we defeated him together, the person who hit him last getting the most points. After that, we all seperated and I was about to walk off.

"Oi, Dani? What're you doing?" I grimaced at Robby's rough voice.

Shawn cheerfully asked me. "You coming with us or what?"

I frowned and shrugged it off. One or two more floors wouldn't be so bad. "Sure, what're you waiting for?"

Both of them nodded, but Dave gave me a look that showed he knew what I was doing. I shot him a look, following the other two toward the next level.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

For the next 10 Floors I stayed with them. I was feeling more antsy. I was getting closer with them by the time I was at Floor 44. I ignored it. the day I decided to leave was when we just finished Floor 54th. It was a fight considering I've been with them for about 15 floors. At Floor 54, the date was Feburary 24, 2024. It was crazy that almost two years are here, only about 9 months. I've never even been out of state for longer than two weeks. The Christmases past and another birthday was coming up.

During the times with the other three, I stared using a hammer, months ago. So I kepy a normal looking hammer with a heavier head on the left side of my belt while my sword stayed across my back. It was the thing I thought was missing awhile ago when I had my sword.

Just my luck though, when I got to the Floor 56 meeting room. I saw two people I haven't seen in over a year.

Kirito and Asuna.

Just kill me now.

 **Well, that's it. A little shorter than usual. I'll admit, writing these, are really hard. Making different adventures and everything. Yeah, I know Dani is being annoying with the solo stuff. But it's the way she wants to do things. Things will go canon for a little bit. So that was her jounrey though SAO for the year and a half we didn't see much of in the anime.**

 **Plus, these extra adventures I insinuate, I'm going to make a One-shot story for them.**


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